Lockdown (And Beyond) Hatchlings

[olive]

Oh no! Will he take it all off now?

[Smunder Woman]

Yeah I gave him a #1 all over, while pissing myself laughing. What an eejit. He had the front done perfectly, and this weird moulting exotic bird thing at the back

Before and after

He is happy with it, the flash just made him pull a funny face. Honestly, this is hilarious

[Rosa]

Jack! That looks much better now.

[Ismee]

H was sat doing her work this morning and just sighed and said 'I really hate all this, it's rubbish. And there's nothing to look forward to'.

I really felt for her. I've since explained how I look forward to each meal, so she's going to do that too.

[Zoomer]

We've just been informed that A can go back to school on the 25th if we still want her to. They're only taking 6 out of the 16 usually in her school, which will be odd for her,and her teacher is not going back, although her usual TA will be there.
I'm inclined to send her, with the option of taking her out again if she really hates it, but I think J will be a harder sell.

[wendy james]

What has J said?

I’m more inclined to let Elvis return than P is. I responded to the survey with yes (pending more info), he said no.

School have now communicated the format. Each class will be split into two, with them rotating a week in/week at home. There’ll be no cloakrooms, class zones, staggered start/end times, separate lunches, half day Friday for cleaning, etc.

[Kleio]

I’ve been totally on the fence about school and had responded with a maybe. On the one hand, I wanted Cube to be able to get the last couple of weeks in our lovely little school, see his friends and have that closure before he moved on to secondary school. However, I hated the idea of how it sounded and I’m worried if he did contract it he could put my Mum at risk.

Today, one of the support staff called everyone on the maybe list so we could discuss it in detail and ask any questions we had.

She said it’ll be set out like an exam room with set times for toileting. Due to the size of the classrooms they can’t have all children in Monday to Friday so his ‘bubble’ would only be in 2 days a week. The other Y6 bubble would be in different days.

He’d be socialising with less than half his class abs wouldn’t see the others at all. His teacher is shielding so she’ll carry on with doing the homeschool stuff and won’t see him. He’ll be taught by the Y5 teacher.

They’ll only be doing the work currently being sent home (not a great deal) and she used words like Stark and Sterile.

The staff member asked me not to send Reuben in. She said she’s worried it’ll send his anxiety through the roof and she didn’t want his lasting memory of school to be social distancing

She got really emotional and said that he’s not on her worry list as he’s working at home and has siblings but she’d really worry how it would affect him if he did come in. Two days a week really isn’t worth it.

We’re going to review once a fortnight and If things improve he can go back.

I’m gutted. She recommended teaching him science my making him mix me a cocktail

[smalex]

I'm sorry Kleio. It's so hard. What does he think?

[Pippedydeadeye]

I’m sorry Kleio. It’s just such a tough time.

Chunk has spent most of the day screaming and trying to murder his sister by all accounts. He’s screamed himself hoarse.

[wendy james]

That sounds tough Kleio, though it sounds like they’ve really thought about what is best for him. What does he think?

[Kleio]

He’s a bit upset as he wanted to see some of his classmates even if it wasn’t his closest friends. He’s being very stoic though and agreed the cons didn’t outweigh the pros.

Do you know what caused it Pip?

[Ruby]

I think given that he's struggled with anxiety, that's probably the right decision. It's really upsetting though. I've been setting transition work today to help our linked primary schools and it's very weird that they might just have to arrive in September with no induction.

[smalex]

All the final this and final that is gone already, I guess (very sadly). It would be a pale imitation.

I feel so sad for them all.

[Kleio]

I think given that he's struggled with anxiety, that's probably the right decision. It's really upsetting though. I've been setting transition work today to help our linked primary schools and it's very weird that they might just have to arrive in September with no induction.

How are you doing transition? The transition teams from all our local schools were meeting today to plan transition. They all want to follow the same plan.

So far we’ve had a ‘getting to know you’ booklet sent out and Cube detailed his family by putting a massive cross through his dad and drawing a red circle around him so it’s already sparked an email conversation with the team.

[Ruby]

How are you doing transition? The transition teams from all our local schools were meeting today to plan transition. They all want to follow the same plan.

The short answer is - we don't know. We are considering having a Year 7 week in September, assuming it's relatively 'normal', when no other year groups will be in the school. It's likely we will have Year 7 form tutors ringing or video-calling individual students and parents over summer or in the last term. We have sent out booklets of enrichment activities for all the different subjects so that they can either do them at Primary or at home - it's quite project-based e.g. do your family tree/a timeline of all the History you did at Primary etc That's meant to prepare them academically but ... I think it's a bit pointless.

[Kleio]

I can see a lot of parents not engaging in that.

[Ruby]

Same. It's really hard to do things that are inclusive and interesting and won't be a hideous burden on parents.

[Luce]

I think, given all you've set out there, Kleio that is sounds like the best decision for all of you. Not just his anxiety but the fact that he'd have siblings at home anyway, plus your Mum etc. It's so sad for him, though.

Transition wise, F has had a few emails sent to him by his new school, detailing what they expect transition to look like. They've been really good. Sounds like its going to be lots of Youtube videos from current students showing the classrooms and stuff. I'm still gutted for him. We're total nerds and were both really looking forward to him starting this school and all the fun stuff you get in transition and the last term of year 6.

[Luce]

We've heard from the school who are planning to open for the specified years if they can. They've been working on getting it as safe as possible and won't be able to update us until their external risk assessments have been carried out.

Our local council (Bradford) is saying No whilst the council next door (Leeds) are saying yes. Because we straddle two councils, a lot of the schools round here will be following completely different rules despite being a mile apart. A complete and utter shambles.

[Loralei]

In which of those is the school, Luce? We are similarly next to a boundary but I think both authorities are planning to open.